well known restaurant group out of Birmingham (Pihakis) is shutting everything down.

The story going around is that the head guy at Pihakis "silent retired" and quit doing his job. The restaurant group is getting hit with lawsuits and liens. I think it's up to $13 million that they owe.

It definitely exposes how the restaurant business works. Hero Donuts, Rodney Scotts, Little Donkey - these were all locally owned establishments with innovative and creative approaches to food. Once they got successful, a restaurant group took over, making the original owner rich (I assume) and turning the restaurant into a business investment for an equity group.

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Pihakis is the guy that started Jim n Nicks, right?

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Correct.

It is a total mess. A few of the restaurants have been able to get salvaged by other investors. Little Donkey & Luca Lagotto or going to remain open, though Luca will be rebranding.

The Rodney Scott BBQ may be able to do the same since I don't know if they are a majority owner in it and he has multiple other locations and investors that could step in, but I'm sure they will have to deal with some headaches. That one has been a disappointment though, compared to the SC location. When I went to it over int he Avondale area, it was really bad, like laughably bad. Homewood location has been improved.

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I wonder if this is a one-off situation with this seemingly successful group closing or a sign of things to come..

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I wouldn't look too much into it as of yet. They vastly overextended themselves way too quickly and then apparently just checked out.

Don't believe so, they aren't owned by the restaurant group, just the family or they may have been bought out years ago, can't remember. The Pihakis group is essential a private equity group that has been the main financier for these other restaurant projects.

Just saw this and was coming to the board to post it.

All three remaining Rodney Scott locations (Atlanta, Charleston, and Nashville) closed up yesterday afternoon.

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Don't believe so, they aren't owned by the restaurant group, just the family or they may have been bought out years ago, can't remember.

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Correct, Nick sold it labout 10 years ago.

Jim n Nick's was sold in 2017 or 2018.

Nick Pihakis, whom this thread is about is Nick of Jim n Nicks. His dad was Jim Pihakis.

Tasty Town was such a mystery. I thought it was overall very solid, but god that name is just awful. Whoever workshopped that deserved to be fired. The amount of people I know that never went because the name sounded so bad so they decided not to try it was not a small amount

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Tasty Town was such a mystery.

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we ate there in February on the way home from Chattanooga and it was fantastic. Seriously it might have been the best meal of a two week road trip. I’m an easy grader but that meal got an A+ no question. Very cool place inside as well. Sorry to see it go

The orignal recipe makes around 600 portions. This scaled down version that will work better for home cooks and makes around 130.

You need mini muffin pans and a #40 portion scoop to get the correct size. Grease the pan well with cooking spray to make sure they release. All of the mixing is done by hand so wear single use gloves

Cheese Biscuits Mix

INGREDIENTS
----DRY MIX
4c AP Flour
1T Salt
3c Sugar
1T Baking Powder
¾t Baking Soda

----FLAVOR
#½ Butter softened
3c Sharp Cheddar Cheese**

----WET MIX
3ea eggs
3c Buttermilk*

PROCESS
In a large mixing bowl, combine all DRY MIX ingredients and mix well.

Next, massage the butter into the DRY MIX until there are no large lumps and it resembles wet sand. Like making pie crust.

Then, add shredded cheddar cheese into the above mixture and repeat the mixing process from step 2, breaking uo any large strands.

In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk with eggs to create the WET MIX
.
After that, blend the WET MIX into DRY MIX until completely combined. DO NOT OVER MIX.

Reserve under refrigeration until ready for use. Discard after 2 days.

BAKE
Preheat oven to 375°F*** and bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the pan 180° half way through baking to promote even cooking.

*Substitute 2 parts milk + 1 part sour cream for buttermilk
**Fresh grated cheese works best but preshredded is a suitable substitute.
***Bake at 350°F if you notice the tops getting too brown before the middle is done.